The first time I beat this my emulator froze after a fade to black in the ending cutscene right before the game’s credits rolled in, and and I sat there for a few minutes thinking it was an incredibly inspired decision to have an arcade game end like that without any kind of entry for a high score or something. The second time I beat it I saw the actual credits and realized that this game is a masterpiece (not because the credits were an incredible scene, just cause the game is very fun and immaculately designed)

I hate to say it but I feel like it was kind of bad. A bit of a loredumping mess to justify some fanservice party and cover up the flimsy script. Absolutely nothing happens until you stop at a random campfire and suddenly, shit gets real and we gotta go kill the big bad now.

But wow, I soyjaked when I saw Gigachad Vandham-Zeke-Rex and Dunban-Shulk!! Them having their children around seems like such a wasted opportunity when they’re just used for cheap winks and nods. You can say Aionios isn’t really even the setting to explore these themes to begin with, which true, but that just makes it REALLY concerning this was a story they considered worth telling to begin with